School districts statewide will begin administering new standardized tests next week in math, English and science -- exams that eventually all students will have to pass to earn a high school diploma.

The first wave of Keystone Exams starts Monday. Districts will begin testing all juniors in algebra 1, literature and biology; students in lower grades who have finished courses in those subjects will take the exams as well.

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For 11th-graders, the Keystones replace the longstanding tests known as the PSSAs, or Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.

Scores will have no bearing on students' academic records. However, this year's eighth-graders will need to pass all three exams by their senior year in 2017 to graduate from high school.

Education Department spokesman Tim Eller said schools have been slowly shifting instruction toward the Common Core standard, on which the Keystones are based.

The tests, considered end-of-course assessments, are not pegged to a grade level. They feature multiple-choice and short-answer questions and are not timed; each exam is expected to take two to three hours. Students who fail any test can retake it multiple times.

The first Keystone testing window runs from Monday through Dec. 14. Other testing dates are Jan. 9-23, May 13-24 and, for summer school, July 29-Aug. 2.

Beginning with the juniors' results this year, state officials want English and math Keystones to replace the PSSAs for calculating the federal benchmark known as AYP -- or "adequate yearly progress." Federal officials have not yet sanctioned the change, but Eller said the state expects approval since the Keystones are more rigorous than the PSSAs.

Starting with the class of 2019, students will have to pass Keystones in algebra 1, literature, biology and composition. For the class of 2020, students must pass those four plus a test in civics/government.

As funding allows, more Keystones will be developed in subjects such as chemistry, geometry, algebra 2 and world history. Those could be used for additional graduation requirements as districts see fit, Eller said.